Duke Nukem Forever

Well, I spent real money and actually bought a game recently. And it was Duke Nukem Forever. I played the original Dukes and Duke 3D when I was younger. It was a lot of fun, and took the FPS genre a little farther, with destroy-able worlds, humour, and fun weapons.

I haven’t played many FPSes since then, played through Doom 3 single player, and a bit of the Unreal Tournament Series with a focus on multiplayer and some more realistic shooters. I was hoping that Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) would bring back good old days of funny gameplay in a very interactive world with crazy weapons and exploration based gameplay. Boy, was I disappointed.

DNF was not much fun to play. The level design was very linear, with a focus on pre-programmed areas of massive combat. Duke was only allowed to carry two weapons (only two weapons! This is freaken Duke Nukem!) and there wasn’t much exploration at all. Also, the boss battles were very, very, very repetitive. The game was also very short. I gave multiplayer a try, but it doesn’t seem all that good yet either.

All that said, when it wasn’t offensive, it was kind of funny, and the graphics, music and sounds were pretty good. If I were you, and you were interested, pick it up on the cheap, and hope the modding community can pump out some good levels.

Flatout

To contrast that experience, I found Flatout from Good Old Games for the low, low price of $3. All games from GOG are DRM free, and available online for download right after you purchase them.

The $3 for Flatout was the best $3 I’ve ever spent. Flatout is an excellent racing game with several modes and bonus modes such as darts and bowling. Where you eject your driver through the windshield to try and score points.